ISLAMABAD, March 27: The Ufone coverage would be extended to additional 67 cities by the end of November, the National Assembly was told.

During the question hour, Minister for Telecommunications Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari said Ufone had recently signed contracts with Nortel and Siemens for Phase III expansion of its GSM-900 network to cater to unprecedented demand.

He said Ufone always implemented network expansion projects purely on commercial and economic considerations. At the same time, the company is also endeavouring to quickly build and expand its network to all those areas which are commercially and technically viable, he added.

The areas where Ufone service is currently available are Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Karachi Central, Karachi East, Karachi South, Karachi West, Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Hyderabad, Jhelum, Kohat, Multan, Nowshera, Peshawar, Quetta, Sheikhupura, Sialkot and Sukkur.

The minister said the government was not considering any proposal to completely do away with telephone line rent during the current year. The Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL) has reduced the line rent from Rs261 (exclusive of general sales tax) per month to Rs174 with effect from December 1, 2003.

Mr Leghari said the PTCL earned a profit of Rs23 billion during 2002-03.